A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 22: Drama Queen

"Oh! Jaime, I didn't see you there," I said, startled to find her directly outside my door, hand up and poised to knock.

"No worries. Ace asked me to find you to let you know he was going to be in a last minute meeting," she said, hand pulling back to chew on the end of her already ragged pen. "I'm afraid we couldn't cancel or reschedule as its an emergency."

My stomach did a somersault. "What? Is Ace okay?"

"Of course!" She said, mouth falling open in shock, pen against her plump lower lip. "He handles the emergencies, he doesn't have them."

I eyed her, feeling stupid for my snap panic at her tone. "Right..."

He was supposed to drive me to Katie's to help her move, as I needed a reason to get out of this house and away from the source material of my nightmares and she had provided the perfect excuse for a temporary escape. Although the idea of moving and being around people didn't thrill me, I'd do anything to get a distraction from my misery.

"Are you enjoying your stay?" She asked, standing straighter, a crease appearing on her forehead. "I know Ace has been seeing that you're taken care of personally, but usually it's my job."

"Yeah, its been...lovely." The circumstances were awful and the memories were worse, and the nightmares...but everyone I'd encountered was polite and helpful. It wasn't anyone's fault that I was miserable. Location or hospitality wouldn't change that. "Do you often have guests?"

She began to walk, chewing thoughtfully on the pen. "Depends. Sometimes we have foreign council members who come and stay, but that isn't a common occurrence as most prefer to find their own lodging."

"What about personal guests? Like me?" She may have been shorter but she was striding along quite quickly, I was nearly jogging to keep up with her.

"I cannot discuss Master Ace's private life," she said, tone cold, her stride picking up more speed.

"Sorry. I don't mean to pry, I was just curious. Especially after Ace kind of disappeared for months."

"It's a difficult and time consuming career, there isn't a lot of free time to socialize," she said diplomatically, eyes darting nervously.

"I know. I'm just sorry I keep disrupting his work, I never meant to drag him into my problems and make things harder for him."

"He's happy to do it. He speaks very highly of you."

"I'm sorry you're working harder to accommodate me too. It's not fun getting yelled at for things that aren't your fault, so I'm sorry for putting a strain on you too."

It was only after a few paces that I realized she was no longer by my side.

"Uh...are you alright?" I asked, a bit concerned by how she just stood there staring at me all of a sudden when a few seconds ago it looked like she was trying to escape.

That seemed to snap her out of it. "Yes. And thank you for saying that," she said, one side of her mouth curving into an almost smile for the first time. "It has been...a challenge to deal with certain changes and the consequences of them."

"I know," I said, returning her smile. "I hope my being here wont make things worse for the two of you. Ace was nice enough to let me stay and I'd hate to impose anymore than I already have. Kind of a bad way to repay you guys for the help."

Her eyebrows rose. "Help? Are you not simply visiting?"

"No, I'm having some trouble at home so..." I touched my arm, feeling the burn of my tattoo. She followed the motion curiously, taking in its red rim.